Blueberry Wine Recipe: How to Make Blueberry Wine
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: Sep 24, 2024 • 3 min read
Capture the height of the blueberry season with this recipe for homemade blueberry wine—perfect for enjoying on a less-than-summery winter night.
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What Is Blueberry Wine?
Blueberry wine is a variety of fruit wine, a fermented beverage made with a base other than grape juice. Although the term “wine” usually refers to the beverage made of grapes, the fermentation process behind fruit wine—allowing yeast to feed on the sugars in the fruit and become alcohol—is the same. “Country wine” is another name for this fermented beverage.
What Does Blueberry Wine Taste Like?
Like many fruit wines, blueberry wine tastes like a concentrated version of its main ingredient. Blueberries turn musky and mellow when combined with sugar, as seen in baked desserts like blueberry crisp and blueberry pie. Depending on the quality of the fruit you use—or how much (optional) citric acid you choose to incorporate—you can balance the fruity profile with a subtle tartness, similar to cranberry or cherry juice. The addition of grape tannins can lend a dry quality found in red wines.
Though it’s a “sweet wine,” blueberry wine doesn’t share many characteristics with classically sweet wines like riesling or ice wine, which contain notes of honey and dried fruit.
3 Tips for Making Blueberry Wine
Homemade blueberry wine might seem like a daunting project, but you needn’t be a seasoned homesteader to pull it off. Here’s what to know:
- 1. Gather all the necessary equipment. Pick up a winemaking kit from your local homebrewing shop, or source the individual components online. You’ll need wine yeast, bottling equipment, and a hydrometer, which allows you to measure the specific gravity and alcohol content of your base mixture as it sits. Always sterilize all equipment and materials before getting started.
- 2. Use fresh or frozen blueberries. You can use fresh blueberries or frozen berries to make blueberry wine. Generally, the amount of added sugar is about half of the amount of fruit, but you can adjust this depending on how sweet you’d like the final result to be.
- 3. Use sanitizing tablets (optional). Some recipes call for a Campden tablet, a compound of stabilizers like potassium sorbate. Use these tablets to sanitize everything from your equipment to the wine juice itself, preventing bacteria from developing due to the exposed air during the racking process.
Basic Blueberry Wine Recipe
makes
1 gallon (about 5 bottles)prep time
10 mintotal time
10 minIngredients
Note: The total time does not include 12 months of inactive time.
- 1
In your primary fermentation vessel (ideally a large, clean food-grade bucket), combine the blueberries, sugar, and boiling water. Stir the mixture with a long-handled spoon or potato masher, lightly crushing the fruit to release its juices.
- 2
Let the mixture cool to room temperature (about 68 degrees Fahrenheit).
- 3
Cover the bucket with a clean towel, and allow it to sit in a cool, dry place for 24 hours.
- 4
After 24 hours, add the yeast, yeast nutrient, grape tannin, citric acid, and pectic enzyme, and replace the towel with a clean one.
- 5
Allow the wine to ferment for 1 week, stirring well once a day. (If you’re using a hydrometer, you should notice the sugar levels start to drop by about day 5, meaning the yeast has converted some of the sugar into alcohol.) To prevent staining from any unexpected overflows, place a thick towel underneath the bucket to protect the floor.
- 6
After a week, siphon the liquid into a large glass carboy. Try not to disturb the debris as you remove the clearest liquid into the bottle using a clean, sterilized siphon tube in a process called racking.
- 7
Fit the carboy with a rubber bung and an airlock, allowing 4–5 inches of space between the liquid and the bottom of the airlock.
- 8
Store the carboy in a cool, dark place (below 70 degrees Fahrenheit).
- 9
After about a month, rack the wine again by siphoning it into a second clean carboy.
- 10
Store the wine for 6 more months.
- 11
When you can’t see any bubbles moving through the airlock or around the top of the wine, siphon the wine into clean glass wine bottles or carafes. Seal the containers with corks or bottle caps.
- 12
Store the bottles for another 6 months before consuming.
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